News CEPF Med

Save our soil! The entire catchment area of a river and its tributaries is a large, complex, interaction of ecosystems. CEPF is working with projects in the Med to best manage river basins holistically. Here is a great example from Albania.

Awareness of hunting's negative effects needs to be improved, collectively, as hunting is a shared responsibility. Now there has been national agreement and endorsement for Responsible Hunting Areas through LEF’s CEPF-funded project.

This year, for the first time, a small colony of about one hundred flamingos nested successfully in the Korba Lagoon, northern Tunisia. Les Amis des Oiseaux (AAO, BirdLife in Tunisia) quickly mobilized its members and partners to help ring the young flamingos, making this also the first time flamingos have been ringed in Tunisia.

Lake Skadar forms the international border between Albania and Montenegro, but is also a biodiversity-rich Balkan wetland harbouring the Dalmatian Pelican. CEPF is supporting 10 organisations to sustainably manage the lake for its pelicans, for conservation, and for the local people that live on its shores.

Limestone is needed for industry; limestone habitats are essential for the survival of vulnerable and irreplaceable species. A new paper targets the extraction industry to give these species a conservation boost.

A collaborative team are on a data-collection mission to classify the extinction risk of rare and endemic Lebanese plants. Once determined, the team (funded by CEPF) can then target conservation and create Plant Micro-Reserves to protect these species.

Despite the crucial situation in Libya, an NGO called Libyan Society for Birds (LSB) continues working hard for nature conservation in the western region of the country. CEPF is currently the only organisation that has directly funded an environmental NGO in Libya.

For the past two years CZIP (Birdlife in Montenegro) has been fighting a battle against the conversion of Ulcinj Salinas into a tourist-development complex. The Ulcinj Salinas are an irreplaceable habitat for birds on the east coast of the Adriatic Sea, and one of the most important habitats on the Adriatic flyway. They are home to over 250 species of birds and recognized as an Important Bird Area (IBA) and as an Emerald Site of the Bern Convention.